When, two years or so ago, the government announced that it was earmarking a particular tract of land in the northwest of Malta for a golf course, environmental groups immediately criticised the idea, saying that one of the pristine areas left on the island would fall victim to the building development that goes with the sport.

At that time, with Malta going through a difficult time in tourism, tourism operators were insisting that Malta needed a second golf course to become more competitive, saying that an extra 30,000 tourists would come over to Malta – and that this kind of tourist had added value as the people who normally play golf spend more than the average visitor.

The ruckus created as soon as the announcement was made soon subsided, and little was heard about the idea until last Saturday, when Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi announced that the golf course idea was, after all, an “unsustainable development”, and that, instead, the area would be turned into a nature and history park.

Moreover, the land to be used for this park will be much bigger than the area originally planned for the golf course – it will be five times the size of Valletta in fact.

This time, it was the turn of the environment groups to celebrate and praise the government for its decision. Several non-governmental organisations quickly responded with messages of approval, and some urged a similar outcome for the proposed golf course at Ta’ Cenc in Gozo.

For its part, the tourism industry has remained silent on the matter, possibly accepting the government’s decision as having been inevitable considering the reasons which led to it – that 250 apartments and 28 semi-detached villas would have been needed for the golf course to be sustainable. The tourism industry should, however, make its thoughts public about the matter. It should also say whether it still believes that Malta needs a second golf course to become more competitive, and whether it has any suggestions for its location.

The Malta Labour Party has welcomed what it said was another U-turn on the government’s part, saying that it was among the many organisations that had opposed the golf course idea.

The government has been criticised for commissioning reports that ultimately led to its decision to change its plans, but without these reports, the government would not have been in a position to assess the situation in the detailed way that it did and come up with a different proposal.

It has also been criticised for having this change of heart in the months leading to an election – with Labour leader Alfred Sant saying that the government had panicked for fear of losing votes and opted to give up its plans for a golf course, which had pleased only a few, and instead suggest a national park, which is certainly more popular.

At the end of the day, what matters most is that a decision has finally been taken, and that the government realised the mistake it was about to commit, and changed its plans before the damage was done.

Malta lacks open spaces, and with our towns and villages growing bigger and higher, with our traffic becoming more congested, and with our needs to find ways to entertain ourselves or spend a few hours away from it all increasing every day, the idea to have a national park of this magnitude is more than welcome.

What we all hope now is that matters are taken in hand so that the project will be implemented as quickly as possible. There have been times when ideas have taken too long to materialise, and therefore, now that a final decision has been taken, the government should not procrastinate further.